The 49ers head coach has been more aggressive to start the year.
The San Francisco 49ers pulled off a big 16-15 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, coming from behind to hit a game-winning field goal and improve to 3-0 with two divisional wins on the season.
It was another game filled with ups and downs, as the 49ers found themselves in a precarious position down 15-13 with 3:15 remaining and on defense. But, as they’ve done in the past two weeks, the team found a way to make big plays on both sides of the ball to win another close game.
Heading into the game, one of my biggest keys was for head coach Kyle Shanahan to trust backup quarterback Mac Jones to cook. The Cardinals were one of the best run defenses over the first two weeks, and San Francisco was going to need to take advantage of Arizona’s injuries in the secondary.
And Shanahan did that, even making some gutsy calls, such as a go-ball to Ricky Pearsall on 4th & 2 that led the 49ers to their first touchdown of the game. What was the thought process behind the call?
“Yeah, [the playcall was] trips right, three-Jet, Florida. Thought it was awesome,” Shanahan said. “Mac had an option to hit K.B. (Kendrick Bourne) on the out route or to throw Ricky on the go. He had a good look for both of them and he chose the right one. It was a big-time play.”
While Shanahan didn’t necessarily have a playcall lined up ahead of time, he knew that the offense was going to stay out on fourth downs, and the call was a big one for the 49ers.
“It wasn’t really the play ready to go, but I knew based off what we did the down before that, that we were going to give him two tries,” Shanahan explained. “I was hoping we could run it. We had a chance to, came up just short, and then those guys were big time on that.”
With a 3rd & 5 at the Arizona 40-yard line, a run was the right call to get San Francisco with a better short-distance situation on fourth down. Christian McCaffrey got three yards, setting up the 4th & 2 pass from Mac Jones to Ricky Pearsall. Two plays later, the 49ers scored on a 1-yard play-action pass to Kyle Juszczyk, taking a 13-6 lead.
That wasn’t the only aggressive call that Shanahan had during the game. He elected to go for it on 4th & Goal at the 1-yard line in a 6-6 game with 15 seconds left in the half. The 49ers were stuffed on the drive, but that still seemed like the right call to go for it.
To start the season, Shanahan has been more aggressive with some fourth-down situations so far, trusting his quarterbacks to make plays, be it Brock Purdy or Mac Jones. That shows both a trust in his defense and an urgency that will benefit the 49ers as the season goes on.
Shanahan has been in his playcalling bag to start the year, which continued with multiple two-minute drills on Sunday. Being more aggressive has only fueled that, which is a good sign for the 49ers.
Category: General Sports
